Voicemail is a feature that is common to many modern telephony systems, including both landline and wireless systems. When a call is placed to a subscriber on a telephony system that includes a voicemail system and if the call is not answered, the call can be redirected to an automated system that instructs and enables the caller to record a voicemail message. The voicemail message is then typically retrieved by the intended recipient at a later time. In modern telecommunications systems, network-based voicemail systems provide the subscribers with the ability to receive and review saved voice messages left by calling parties when the subscriber's telephone is busy or unanswered.
In instances when a caller records a voicemail and receives an incoming call, the caller may presently continue to record the voicemail by ignoring the incoming call, or the caller can answer the call leaving a partially recorded voicemail message. If the caller continues to record the voicemail, the incoming call is ignored and may be transferred to a voicemail, which often results in the user needing to return a call to the incoming caller. If the caller answers the incoming call, the voicemail recording is typically abandoned, resulting in a partially completed recording. The result is generally that either the voicemail must be abandoned or the incoming call must be ignored.
In the majority of prior art voicemail systems, the caller is provided with an audible instruction prior to recording, which indicates that the caller may push a key such as a ‘*’ key to pause recording, with other keys to resume recording, play back, or start over. Similarly, with call waiting, the caller leaving a voicemail in such a system may be alerted to an incoming call and can pause the recording if the caller is aware of the proper codes to use. The caller can switch to the call, and then switch back to resume recording. Such voicemail systems have the ability to return to record the voicemail after placing a call from within the voicemail system. Such applications, however, may not permit the user to receive a call or to allow the inbound call event to automatically signal a pause with respect to the external voicemail system. Also, such systems do not provide the ability to instruct the inbound caller about the voicemail event or the ability to suspend the voicemail system.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved method and system for automatically pausing and resuming a voicemail message, while receiving an incoming call. A need also exists for notifying the incoming caller about the user voicemail interaction.